Marlene Dietrich's Secret Moments

Did you know that her name wasn't really Marlene?

By
Sadie Hechkoff

Jun 21, 2019

Metrograph

Although Old Hollywood legends and royal princesses alike may have been revered for their enviable style and penchant for luxury, they also grappled with troubled upbringings and tumultuous relationships throughout their lifetimes. Delving past the curtain of glamorous celebrity, Secret Moments is a series humanizing the icons of yesterday.

Born in 1901, Marie Magdalene "Marlene" Dietrich was a German-American actress and singer who appeared in silent films during her career. Starring in many movies throughout the 1930s and 1940s, the femme fatale was known for her unique, and at times androgynous, sex appeal. Not just a pretty face, Dietrich also explored important themes such as feminism in her work, and made it a point to be politically transparent and active throughout her life. Here, CR delves into the intriguing history of this iconic leading lady.

Getty Images

She was German-American

Dietrich was born on Dec. 27, 1901 in Berlin, Germany. Her mother was from a wealthy German family who owned a jewelry and clock-making firm and her father was a police lieutenant who died when she was young. Dietrich later moved to America and became an American citizen in 1939.

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Newsweek

Her name wasn't really "Marlene"

Born Marie Magdalene Dietrich, Dietrich's family nicknamed her "Lena" and "Lene." By age 11, Dietrich combined her nicknames to create "Marlene."

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ArtPhotoLimited

She lied to get out of being a violinist

Dietrich attended a private school in Weimar, where she studied French and took violin lessons with the hope that she would have a a career as a concert violinist. But it was widely believed that she hated the idea of playing violin for a living and, at 18 years old, pretended to injure her wrist, ultimately leading to her show business career.

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Wikipedia

She made film history

In 1930, Dietrich was cast in Der Blaue Engel, Germany's first talking picture. Dietrich played Lola Lola, a seductive nightclub dancer, who falls in love with a local professor. The movie was huge, and led to Dietrich's eventual stardom in the U.S., where she moved shortly after the premiere.

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AnOther

She met her husband on-set

Dietrich and her husband, Rudolf Sieber, met on the set of Tragedy of Love in 1923. They married in Berlin that same year, and their only child, their daughter, was born a year later. Eventually, the couple separated, but never divorced.

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Flickr

She was politically outspoken

Dietrich wasn't afraid to make her political views known. Dietrich was very forthright with her opposition to Nazi Germany, and created a fund to help Jews escape from Germany during World War II. Dietrich's movies were banned in Germany after she turned down offers by associates of Adolf Hitler to come back to Germany and make films.

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AllPosters

She wasn't a natural blonde

Once she moved to Hollywood, Dietrich lost 30 pounds, dyed her hair golden blonde, and created her signature pencil-thin arched brows.

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Wednesday Martin

She was androgynous

In her movies and in her personal life, Dietrich shattered gender norms by wearing masculine clothing and creating androgynous style trends. She was famous for wearing men's trousers, and the look was coined "the Dietrich silhouette." The critic Kenneth Tynan once wrote, "she has sex but no positive gender. Her masculinity appeals to women and her sexuality to men."

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GermanCulture

She was once the screen's highest-paid actress

During the 1930s, at the peak of her career, Dietrich was the screen's highest-paid actress.

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NewYorker

She entertained half a million troops

During World War II, Dietrich became an emblem of free Germany. Over three years, Dietrich entertained half a million war prisoners and Allied troops across Europe and Africa. Not only did she preform for the troops, but she waited in food lines with them as well and slept with them in the ruins, often times near the front lines.

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BBC

She won a Tony award

Though Dietrich preformed on Broadway in 1967 and 1968, she won a Special Tony Award in 1968, honoring her general body of work.

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YouMustRememberThis

Ernest Hemingway loved her voice

Dietrich is known for her sultry singing voice, which appeared in films, on records, and during concert tours. Ernest Hemingway is quoted saying that, "if she had nothing more than her voice, she could break your heart with it."

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Silver Screen Collection

She worked only as a cabaret artist later in life

From the mid 1950s to the mid 1970s, Dietrich ditched acting and essentially only worked as a highly paid cabaret artist. In 1953, she was offered $30,000 to perform at the Sahara Hotel in Las Vegas. Her voice, along with the sheer nude dress that she wore during the show, attracted a lot of publicity, and it led to the renewal of her contract for the following year.

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Pintrest

She hated her theme song

In 1930, Dietrich recorded her song "Falling in Love Again." It became her theme song—the tune that's most associated with her. Sources say that she personally hated this song, even though it was one of her biggest hits.

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Metrograph

Her career ended when she broke her thigh

During a performance in Sydney, Australia in 1975, Dietrich fell off stage and broke her thigh. This event stunted her career in show business, and, unfortunately, sent her on a general downward spiral toward a life of near seclusion.

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Telegraph

She became an addict later in life

During the final 11 years of her life, Dietrich became addicted to alcohol and painkillers. Becoming somewhat of a recluse, yet continuing to write prolifically, Dietrich published an autobiography in 1979.

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WashingtonBlade

She was politically active until the end

Even in seclusion, Dietrich kept in contact through phone calls with political leaders such as Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev. Her phone bill was said to be over $3,000 per month.

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YouTube

She knew she was going to die

Toward the end, one of her closest friends was biographer David Bret. Two days before she died, Dietrich called Bret saying, "I have called to say that I love you, and now I may die."

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AnOther

There is a documentary about her life

Dietrich agreed to be in a documentary about her life, Marlene (1984), but refused to show her face in it, and only appeared by voice recording. The film won many awards, and was named by Newsweek as, "a unique film, perhaps the most fascinating and affecting documentary ever made about a great movie star".

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YouTube

She died in Paris

Dietrich passed away at 90 years old at her home in Paris, France. Gone, but never forgotten.

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